Colorado Destinations
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A weekend in Twin Lakes, Colorado
The combination of living in Colorado and having a winter anniversary always makes it difficult to figure out how we’re going to celebrate. You just never know what the weather has in store, especially in the mountains. This year we actually had the opposite problem from what we expected: it was going to be too… Continue reading
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Chasing fall colors on Boreas Pass
Autumn in Colorado is never going to be the same as autumn on the east coast. We just don’t have as many trees that turn so many vibrant shades of color. But we do have cottonwoods and aspens and willows, all of which turn yellow (and sometimes the aspens even give us a little bit… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Snow Mountain Ranch
Winter is a risky time of year to make partially-non-refundable reservations for anywhere in the Colorado Rockies. Weather can change in an instant, closing mountain passes and rendering travel downright dangerous. But it’s when we could go, so we made the reservation and crossed our fingers and ended up getting pretty lucky. At the suggestion… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Isak Heartstone… and some other Breckenridge highlights
The first time I heard someone mention “the troll” I had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. But a little research quickly uncovered the mystery of this unusual hiking destination. This is one of those silly and cliché and popular bucket list items, but I still feel like it was worth the brief… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Sunrise at the Maroon Bells
I said when I began this Colorado Bucket List series that some of these “must-do” items are probably a little overrated and/or cliché. Some of them are also excessively popular and crowded. This is absolutely one of the most popular and crowded items on the list, but it’s by no means overrated. There’s a reason… Continue reading
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Life on the Edge of a Cliff – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (part II)
(Read part I of this post here) Most people don’t know this, but I took a bunch of anthropology classes in college because for a while I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist. I eventually changed my mind – long story – but I still find archaeology to be incredibly cool. So for me,… Continue reading
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Into the Past – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (part I)
A couple years ago, I wrote all about Mesa Verde based on my previous visit to this fascinating park. But my fiance had never been there and it’s a place I was happy to return to, so last summer we headed out for a week long exploration of southwestern Colorado, including 2.5 days at Mesa… Continue reading
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Riding the Royal Gorge Railroad
For people who like to celebrate by doing something outdoorsy, winter isn’t the optimal time of year to have an anniversary. Sure, we could have gone skiing… if we felt like dropping $200+ for a single day and spending hours sitting in traffic. (We didn’t.) So instead, we settled on a scenic train ride through… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Manitou Cliff Dwellings
This past winter began fairly mildly, but by March – right about the time I was ready for winter to end – the snow arrived with a vengeance and lingered for nearly 3 more months. The final snow storm arrived 3 days before Memorial Weekend, throwing a wrench into everyone’s plans and thwarting efforts to… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
If ever there was an area of the US with a bizarre history, this is it. Even the name – which combines ‘arsenal’ and ‘wildlife’ into the same sentence – suggests that this land has quite the storied past. Located immediately northeast of Denver, the land encompassed today by Rocky Mountain Arsenal used to be… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Paint Mines Interpretive Park
Our early October visit to the Paint Mines on the plains of Colorado was a last-minute change of plans after our weekend camping reservations got rained out. Scattered showers and thunderstorms, I can handle. An inch and a half (4 cm) of rain while tent camping, I cannot. It would’ve been a miserable weekend. So… Continue reading
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Shadows of the Past – Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado
When I mention giant redwood trees, Sequoia National Park and California are probably two of the first places that come to mind. But if I’d mentioned giant redwood trees about 34 million years ago, you’d most likely be thinking of Colorado instead! Thirty-four million years ago, what is now the Florissant Valley in the Rocky… Continue reading
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Fit for the Gods – Garden of the Gods, Colorado
After waving goodbye to the beauty of Great Sand Dunes, my mom and I continued making our way north. Our next stop was just outside Colorado Springs at the Garden of the Gods. Garden of the Gods is a large public park that is home to towering red rock formations. Its beauty is said to… Continue reading